The 12th International Conference on Environmental ... - Events

Session 26 Abstracts
• <strong>The</strong> benefits to Sellafield Ltd from working with NMP partner companies; How the ability to draw on skills and technical
knowledge from other world leading companies will help meet the challenges faced by the site
• <strong>The</strong> benefits of the reorganisation for the company; How the initial change programme has impacted on operational effectiveness
• <strong>The</strong> advantages of applying a People, Partnering and Performance approach; How clearly defined expectations form the
basis for NMPs management strategy
• Opportunities for the supply chain; how the emphasis on Partnership will maximise working opportunities for the supply
chain, and how it will be made easier to work with Sellafield
• Looking forward to the future; how Sellafield Ltd will be positioned to seize whatever opportunities may arise from future
decisions by the UK government about potential new nuclear missions
2) EMBEDDING NUCLEAR, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY MEASURES FROM
DESIGN THROUGH TO DECOMMISSIONING - 16212
Jack Williamson, Sellafield Ltd, Seascale (UK)
A key part of the UK nuclear industry for more than five decades, Sellafield represents the most challenging nuclear site management
programme in the world
Originally, established during the early 1940s to home Royal Ordnance factories producing explosives for World War II, today
Sellafield Ltd manages and operates the West Cumbrian site on behalf of its owners, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Activities centre on remediation, decommissioning, accelerated hazard reduction and clean-up of the historic legacy, however the
site is also home to a number of commercially operated plants, including the Thorp and Magnox reprocessing plants, the Sellafield
Mixed Oxide Fuel manufacturing plant and a range of waste management and effluent treatment facilities
Sellafield Ltds Nuclear Decommissioning and Major Project Group is responsible for managing all of the current and future
decommissioning work and major build projects on the site, a programme valued at approximately £46 billion
Nuclear Safety is the overriding priority for the group, and inspiring confidence in new nuclear facilities is seen as playing an
important role in any future nuclear renaissance.
Looking at both radiological and conventional safety, this paper will discuss the importance of embedding safety into all phases
of the nuclear new build programme; Design, Construction, Commissioning and Decommissioning. It will also look at how
adopting a partnership approach between all parties involved in the build process can not only maximise conventional safety and
realise the design intent but also minimise waste when the plant is eventually decommissioned.
3) OPTIMISING THE UK WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME USING INVENTORY MODELING - 16394
Mervin McMinn, NDA(USA)
<strong>The</strong> UK updates the National Inventory of radioactive waste every three years. <strong>The</strong> latest iteration, based on a stock date of
April 2007, was published in May 2008. At that time, there were approximately 1,300 identified waste streams representing 290,000
m3 of L/ILW already in stock, with an additional 3,100,000 m3 forecast future lifetime arisings. Under the current baseline Strategy,
around 90% of the arisings are destined for a low level waste repository (LLWR) with the remaining 380,000 m3 destined for
a geological disposal facility (GDF).
<strong>The</strong> data in the National Inventory is used to support and underpin the L/ILW Strategic Design Authorities (SDA) in developing
alternative waste management Strategic Options. One significant business driver is to identify opportunities for reducing the
volume of waste for geological disposal, Inventory modelling quantifies the benefits that would be obtained by adopting alternative
waste treatment solutions.
This paper sets out the current scope of the UK National Inventory and the process and tools employed to compile a validated
dataset. Strengths and weaknesses of the current approach will be highlighted. Areas targeted for improvement will be outlined,
including reducing the uncertainty in the data and improving the lead-time for publishing an approved report. <strong>The</strong> future scope and
expected benefits will be described, in particular proactive modelling of the value of alternative waste management options and a
more data-driven approach to developing an optimised National Integrated Waste Strategy. In closing, the paper will illustrate the
modelled impact of strategic options that are being considered for further development.
4) INNOVATIVE HIGHLY SELECTIVE REMOVAL OF CESIUM AND STRONTIUM UTILIZING A NEWLY
DEVELOPED CLASS OF INORGANIC ION SPECIFIC MEDIA - 16221
Mark Denton, Kurion, Inc., (USA) Dr. Mercouri Kanatzidis, Northwestern University (NWU) (USA)
Highly selective removal of Cesium and Strontium is critical for waste treatment and environmental remediation. Cesium-137
is a beta-gamma emitter and Strontium-90 is a beta emitter with respective half-lives of 30 and 29 years. Both elements are present
at many nuclear sites. Cesium and Strontium can be found in wastewaters at Washington State’s Hanford Site, as well as in
wastestreams of many Magnox reactor sites. Cesium and Strontium are found in the Reactor Coolant System of light water reactors
at nuclear power plants. Both elements are also found in spent nuclear fuel and in high-level waste (HLW) at DOE sites. Cesium
and Strontium are further major contributors to the activity and the heat load. <strong>The</strong>refore, technologies to extract Cesium and Strontium
are critical for environmental remediation waste treatment and dose minimization.
Radionuclides such as Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 are key drivers of liquid waste classification at light water reactors and
within the DOE tank farm complexes. <strong>The</strong> treatment, storage, and disposal of these wastes represents a major cost for nuclear power
plant operators, and comprises one of the most challenging technology-driven projects for the DOE Environmental Management
(EM) program.
An alternative to these issues of organic ion-exchangers is emerging. Inorganic ion-exchangers offer a superior chemical, thermal
and radiation stability which is simply not achievable with organic compounds. <strong>The</strong>y can be used to remove both Cesium as
well as Strontium with a high level of selectivity under a broad pH range. Inorganic ion-exchangers can operate at acidic pH where
protons inhibit ion exchange in alternative technologies such as CST. <strong>The</strong>y can also be used at high pH which is typically found in
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